Ragapop, the musical project of Ruslana Khazipova and Anna Nikitina from Dakh Daughters, in collaboration with musician Anton Ocheretianyi, presented the album ‘Do you listen to Ragapop?’. It includes seven tracks
On the air of Radio Promin, Ruslana Khazipova said that in the release the band wanted to ‘reproduce the beauty of Ukrainian culture, namely its eroticism and mysticism in a modern form, but with a kind of retro vibe’.
In the songs the band used Ivan Franko’s translation of texts written by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, as well as poems by poets Illia Kaliukin and Svitlana Pyrkalo.
According to Ruslana, the album became special for them also due to the ‘synergy and interaction with talented people’, and musician friends of Ragapop took part in the recording of the release.
The song ‘Liudyna’ is based on the lyrics written by VGNVZH band leader Anton Slepakov, who took part in the recording of the single.
In a commentary for Suspilne Kultura, Anton Slepakov said that he created a draft of the lyrics for ‘Liudyna shcho zapysuie zvuk’ in 2015 after ‘long conceptual conversations about the structure of sound and the concept of sound recording’.
‘I clearly saw, heard and imagined that it was Rusia [Khazipova] who should realize this story. The track is dedicated to a very good, talented person recording sound… But, unfortunately, this person lost an unequal fight for life’, the musician explained.
In addition to the album, Ragapop released a music video for the single ‘Chy Liubov’.
Singers Ruslana Khazipova and Anna Nikitina from Dakh Daughters in collaboration with musician Anton Ocheretianyi formed the experimental band Ragapop in 2020. The band’s concept is to combine music with performing arts and theatricality.
In 2020, Ragapop presented their debut single ‘Gordosti’, as well as the EP ‘Siasya’, which consists of three tracks based on lyrics by Ivan Franko. In 2021, the band performed at the National Cinematheque of Ukraine as part of the ‘Zmova’ project, and a live recording of the performance formed the basis of the EP ‘Live from Nauchfilm’.
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